Gambling with Love
by moonlightdreamer1
Summary: Very drunk immortals and wagers. Never a good combination, especially when the one their wagering on is Loki. Thor/Loki


Yeah this is an extremely crazy idea, I'm not sure how it is going to work out but it so intrigued me that I decided to give it a go. I have dyslexia; this has gone through a checker for grammar and spelling errors. Man on man love warnings at the start. I don't own theses characters I just borrowed them for this odd story.

Gambling with love.

Thor, Sif and the warriors three were extremely drunk, for two weeks now they had been celebrating their victory over yet another mighty monster at a great feast, it was Fandral who said to the others. "Let's make a wager!"

"Hmm that might be fun..." Volstagg agreed.

"Yes but what are we going to bet on, slaying monsters would be too easy." Sif said with a drunken giggle.

"I know Loki..." Hogan said with a smirk.

"Loki...how is that a bet..." Thor asked them.

"I know whoever can get a kiss off of him wins!" Hogan said with inspiration.

"Yeah, why not that would teach him a lesson for all he did and the way he shamed Asgard!" Volstagg agrees with a drunken smirk.

Sif nodded so too did Fandral, Thor however remained quiet, all eyes turned in his direction. "That seems a bit much..."

Hogan spoke to the god with a drunken jeer. "Oh come on Thor it will be fun and Loki deserves it for all he has done!"

"Ah why join us it's not like it will matter to him any way." Sif said to him with a careless shrug.

"Oh go on then count me in." Thor said slowly and they all started to laugh drunkenly at this point.

The next day they were all hung over but after much discussion no one was willing to back down from the bet they had made centring on Loki. "I will be the one to try to win a kiss from Loki first and there will be no time limit on each of our attempts to win." Thor said with determination.

The others agreed to this statement from the prince, so it was that the thunder god set out to woo the other immortal and win a kiss from him. Eventually Thor found the god in question in settled on a bench in the garden, his nose in a book, as the blonde approached him the trickster looked up from his book and instantly Loki realizes who is coming towards him he draws up his defences.

With a smile the god of thunder walked up to the raven haired immortal, he gestured to the bench and addressed the dark haired immortal. "May I sit with you?"

"If you must." Loki said with a disdainful sniff.

Thor sat down beside the trickster and noticed that not only was the god of mischief reading but that he appeared to have various parts of plants beside him. "What are all these plants for?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm simply curious."

"They are all for use in healing magic's and natural remedies."

"Oh, that's a new interest for you."

"Yes, it is, what do you want Thor?" Loki asked with a deep sigh.

The thunder god blinked at the other immortal for a moment before answering him. "I just wanted to spend some time with you."

Loki said nothing in response to this, he simply permitted Thor to sit beside him as he read, the prince started to do this more and more regularly until the god of mischief accepted his presence beside him without comment or withering looks. They would often talk about what Loki was doing or studying at the time, their conversations would vary in length dependent on the mood of the trickster and the amount of knowledge Thor possessed on the subject. The thunder god also noticed that Loki had a wide interest in many things out side of magic, this was something that the prince had not known about the raven haired immortal before and it intrigued him.

It was a week later after many such discussions that the prince had decided it was time to move to the next step in his wooing, this time as the two sat together in the garden without looking at Loki the blonde immortal slowly inched his hand across the bench until their fingers touched. The instant that the trickster felt this he quickly looked from his book to their touching fingers but did not move his hand. Taking this as a good omen Thor carefully and very gently caressed Loki's little finger with his own finger as the prince did this the god of mischief let out a small gasp, hastily he looked from where the blonde immortal was caressing his finger and then to the god next to him.

Slowly Thor turned to meet the gaze of the other immortal he was pleased to see that Loki's eyes were wide surprised but at the same time gentle. The last thing that the thunder god wanted was for the trickster to become angry with him for some reason and then lose his chance to win a kiss from the other immortal. Continuing to keep his eyes locked with the raven haired god's Thor closed his hand round Loki's one and held it gently in his grasp.

"What are you doing?" The god of mischief asked him in a slightly shaky voice, the way that the other immortal had started behaving around him had Loki on edge. He has always wanted to be closer to Thor in a romantic way and was having a hard time adjusting to the fact that from these initial indications that the thunder god might reciprocate his long hidden desires.

"Holding your hand and before you can ask why I want to."

"Hmm..." Loki said softly but thoughtfully, the trickster returned his gaze to his book, but didn't try to take back his hand. With his blue eyes firmly locked onto his book Loki did not see the satisfied smile which Thor gave him before the thunder god turned his own attention back to the garden.

Slowly but surely over the next week Thor got Loki used to him holding his hand and it was once again at this time the prince moved onto the next part of his plan. This time when they next met in the garden the thunder god sat down next to Loki, gave him a quick hug and then took his hand. The trickster looked at Thor with surprise the trickster raised one eyebrow at the blonde haired immortal wondering for a moment weather the embrace had merely been the prince being his usual affectionate self or weather it had been more than this. Deciding not to read too much into this hug Loki shrugged and returned to his reading. The thunder god however had been careful to ignore his curious look, he continued to sit beside Loki slightly closer than he had ever done before and look at the view. A companionable silence hung over them which was occasionally punctured in the usual way between them as they made conversation over what Loki was studying and what Thor had been getting up to lately as well as any gossip which was doing the rounds of the castle.

That evening when the prince went to his rooms he was joined by Sif and the warriors three, together they settled on chairs in the main room of his quarters. It was Fandral who was the one to ask what was on the mind of the other four. "So how are things progressing with your attempt to win the bet?"

Thor thought over his progress with Loki and as he did so a feeling of unease start to unfurl in him, quickly though the god of thunder pushed this feeling away for later analysis and answered the question. "Well, I am hopeful that I should to be able to gain a kiss from him soon."

"That's good."

"See I knew this would be fun!" Volstagg said with enthusiasm.

"Hey need I remind you that I was the one who suggested we use Loki." Hogan reminded the others.

They gave him a nod and Fandral addressed his fellow warrior. "Yes you did, it was very cleaver of you."

"So what are you planning as your next move?" Sif asked her eyes glittering with the expectation of revenge.

"Ah well as to that I have a few ideas but I am unsure which I shall peruse at this time." After he had said this the prince of Asgard steered the conversation away from himself and Loki and onto more general topics.

Later that evening when the warriors three and Sif had left Thor sat quietly allowing himself to think on why he should be feeling uneasy about what he was doing to Loki after all he did deserve the heart ache didn't he? His answer to this was not the clear cut yes the thunder god had expected this fact surprised the prince of Asgard greatly. The blonde immortal wondered if perhaps some of his unease came from the worry that other god would curse him but he shrugged this off any curse of Loki's would probably be easy undone by his father.

This left him still wondering what was bothering him, because he had only felt this way during the conversation which had occurred earlier Thor looked back over it in his mind and as he did so several realisations hit the prince all at once. The first was that he did not like the idea of the others involved in this wager getting a chance to be close to Loki as the bet needed them to be to win. The second was that the reason he did not like this was because he had fallen in love with the trickster, Thor was unsure how or when this had occurred precisely but it was there strong and true.

With this knew knowledge the first thing the prince wanted to do was stop the wager, but he was unsure if he stopped that the others would too, in fact the more he considered it the more he felt it would be unlikely that they would cease with this bet if he did. Thor knew that he was in a predicament, the thunder god refused to let any of the others involved in the wager have the one he loved and at the same time he wished he had never become involved in this stupid bet which the prince couldn't help but feel was somehow going to end up hurting Loki one way or another. Thor let out a deep sigh, he sent a prayer to whatever powerful being might be listening that somehow he would be able to do something to show the god of mischief just how much he loved him and despite the wager leave Loki in no doubt of his love for him.

The day after these revelations the prince of Asgard went in search of the immortal he now knew he loved and found Loki in the same spot in the garden were they always met. As soon as Thor was settled beside the raven haired god, he gave the trickster a tight hug and then took one of his hands in his as he always did, but now that Thor knew his true feelings he could now feel how much peace and joy being able to do this with Loki brought to him.

So reluctantly Thor continued with his plan to woo and win a kiss from Loki, his next step in this process was to send the other immortal gifts, at first Loki returned them but Thor just kept suddenly sending them until the raven haired god stopped returning them and accepted them one by one. The god of mischief had been surprised by the gifts from the one he secretly loved, at first he had returned them unwilling to believe that the blonde prince was sending him tokens of his affection but when they had not ceased being sent Loki had re-evaluated his opinion and started to keep them hoping that perhaps Thor was sending him these things because he had come to care for him romantically.

"Why do you keep sending me things Thor?" Loki asked him quietly.

"I want to and I like to." The thunder god told him truthfully, longing all the while to tell the god of mischief about the wager and tell him that he loved him. At the same time however the prince of Asgard was terrified of telling him the truth about why he had started all this and by doing so lose the one he loved forever.

It was this day that Loki surprised the blonde god, when they were about to part for the evening the raven haired god took hold of his courage and embraced the one he loved in a gentle hug, with a happy smile on his face the prince returned the hug and after this, every time they would be about to part ways Loki would embrace the other immortal.

The thunder god had noticed shortly after this new addition to their meetings that a joyful light appeared in the eyes of the god of mischief's blue eyes whenever they met now, the thunder god knew that it was close to becoming time for him to try and win the kiss he needed from Loki to be victorious in the wager. Thor couldn't help but feel more than ready for all of this to be over, hopefully then he could tell the trickster the truth of the bet and his own feelings without the pale immortal cursing him too dreadfully for his actions.

"Are you trying to woo me?" The trickster asked him quietly almost a month after all Thor had begun to pay such romantic interest to him.

"What do you think?" Thor said softly his gaze locked with the other gods, he moved closer to Loki, the blonde immortal then gently placed his lips to those of the trickster of Asgard in a soft kiss. The dark haired god leant into the kiss and it did not take very long for the kissing to turn heavy and passionate between the two of them. After a long while of kissing like this Thor and Loki pulled apart from this scorching kiss both god were breathing heavily and staring at each other with love and wonder in their eyes.

Then suddenly noisy cheering began from nearby, this caused the god of mischief to turn in the direction of the noise. He found the warriors three and Sif watching them and instantly noticed that they were all grinning like idiots. "Well done Thor, looks like you win our wager!" Volstagg said with laughter in his eyes and admiration to his voice.

"Wager?" Loki said softly his eyes shuttering and his heart feeling like it was dyeing inside him.

"Well it really looks like you managed to convince Loki to kiss you, I have to admit your fake wooing was really well done. I was amazed that you of all people managed to get him to think that despite all he had done that you loved him, well done." Sif said in congratulations to Thor.

Loki's blue eyes widened, he shoved Thor away from him roughly and use of some of his magic as he did so. The thunder god found himself sprawled backwards on the ground, he rose up on one arm slightly to look up at Loki, who was looking down at him. The pain and the betrayal Loki felt as he heard why the prince had been wooing him of this was completely obvious in his eyes. Tears started to form in Loki's eyes, and despite a desperate attempt to prevent them falling, he could not prevent the tears leaking out onto his cheeks. As soon as they noticed the tears the vengeful smiles on the faces of the warriors three and Sif grew. "You deserve ever ounce of pain which this causes you Loki." The female warrior said to him heartlessly.

The god of mischief said nothing in return to these words instead he turned away from them all and ran off quickly back into the castle. Thor tried to rise but found the magic of the other god was still pinioning him to the ground. When it finally let go the blonde haired immortal quickly came up onto his feet and rounded on those he had thought of once as friends. "I cannot believe you, any of you! I love him! He hates me, do you know how hard I had to work to get him to trust me after all the animosity that had built between us!"

The warriors and Sif stared at him with complete shock but the thunder god was not done with his angry words to them. "Now I will probably never get Loki to take my true feelings for him seriously ever again." Thor stormed inside but not before Sif and the three warriors noticed that there were now also tears on the cheeks of the prince of Asgard.

Over the next few days Thor, Sif and the warriors three waited for Loki to come and curse them all for what they had done to him but nothing happened. Then they expected the god of mischief to go to Odin about the wager they had made concerning him but he did not do this either. None of these things happening meant that they were now at a loss as what to expect if anything as a form of vengeance for what they had done to the other immortal. Loki had told no one save Sigyn about what had happened to him, instead of doing what they probably expected of him and either telling Odin of their actions or cursing them the pale god simply withdrew into his rooms and was seldom to be seen around Asgard.

Odin only discovered what had caused the god of mischief to withdraw from most of public life on Asgard when he heard the warriors three talking about what had happened between themselves, Sif, Loki and Thor. The king of the gods reacted to what he had heard them talking about with great speed, he quickly rounded up all those who had taken part in the wager and took them into his private chambers. As soon as they were inside Odin turned to those present with fury burning in his single eye and anger evident in every line of his being. "I cannot believe what the five of you have done! It was not up to any of you to punish Loki, he had already been punished. He has demanded nothing of me yet but I shall go to him and know this I intend to tell Loki that I know what has happened to him and ask what he wants in restitution for the shameful thing you have all done to him. You of all people Thor, I would have expected better from you than his reprehensible act."

They all looked ashamed when the all father had finished speaking; Thor hung his head and then spoke to his father. "I am truly sorry for what we did father. I am probably the most sorry because I love Loki."

"You have quite a way to show it my son." With those angry words Odin left them to contemplate what Loki might ask him for in recompense for what they had done to him.

The all father was unsurprised when he found the good of mischief in his rooms, the trickster was sitting quietly staring into the fire. Sigyn was settled on the chair beside him, her arm is round the pale god's shoulders. At the sound of the king's entrance she turns to look at Odin and he can tell from her eyes that the usually peaceful goddess is very angry. Carefully the king of the gods approaches them; quietly he sits opposite the two immortals, as he looks at Loki Odin can see that he is staring with unfocused eyes into the fire. "Has he been like this long?" The all father asks Sigyn quietly with a tone of concern to his voice.

With a sigh the goddess answers his question. "Loki get's like this on and off ever since he found out about the wager."

The king of the god's let out a deep sigh of his own he waited quietly with Sigyn until the trickster turned away from the fire and turned his sad gaze onto Odin. "I am sorry that they did this to you Loki it was very cruel and extremely unfair of them and I have told them this. I have come to see you in order to ask what action you might like me to take; after all I feel that you deserve some form of recompense for the wrong done to you."

Loki looked at the king of the gods for a long moment thinking over what he thought would be fair in light of what had been done to him and then answered Odin. "For the three warriors and Sif it is simple to tell you what I would like to be their punishment; I wish everyone to know what they have done, and that you feel what they have done to me is wrong."

"Very well Loki and Thor?" Odin asked apprehensive that his son was not mentioned in this first punishment. At the same time however the one eyed god was surprised by Loki's leniency towards the others involved in this affair. It was unlike him, but perhaps the king of the gods thought that was exactly the point, the trickster wanted to show that he was better than them by showing them mercy for their actions.

"He brought out in me my feelings for him which I had hidden for a long time and therefore I will not deny that I have been hurt a great deal by what he has done to me. However I think letting Thor live with his guilt and the knowledge that I will never show my heart to him again should be enough of a punishment for him."

With a single nod for Loki Odin left the room, the king of the gods did as the pale immortal had requested of him where it concerned Sif and the warriors. Soon many were praising both Loki's wisdom and his compassion for those who had so dreadfully wronged him. Many could not help but wondered and hope that this was a glimpse of the new and better god of mischief after his punishments for his previous actions on Midgard.

It was to be another month after all of this before the raven haired immortal surfaced from his rooms and began to take part in life on Asgard again. Most of the time he was completely normal for Loki, he still knew how to laugh, trick and create mischief, though the more dangerous and darker edge to him had clearly vanished after both his time in prison and the wager. However as soon as Loki was any were near Thor the raven haired immortal changed almost completely he would become quiet, the light in him seemed to go out, he withdrew into himself and absolutely refused to look at the prince or talk to him unless absolutely necessary and even then Loki kept his contact with Thor to the absolute minimum.

For Thor the pain he felt inside himself was intense, the image of Loki's face from that day haunted the thunder god's dreams every single night and the hurt he had caused the one he loved troubled Thor greatly. The way Loki behaved around him now was like a dagger to his heart, the prince knew that he deserved the actions he was receiving from the one he loved but at the same time Thor felt that he had to try and do something to rectify the situation between them. Eventually the blonde prince came to a decision he needed to try and apologies to the dark hired immortal for what he had done. The thunder god decided that he needed to do this publicly so that everyone knew how sorry he was for his actions and also so that it made it harder for Loki to retreat from his apology. Thor couldn't help but feel that that if he humiliated himself during this process then he deserved it for what he had done to Loki.

So at the end of a day when his father had been holding court the thunder god looked round for the pale immortal, locating him in the throne room Thor quickly crossed the room so that he stood before Loki. Before the other god could retreat from him, the prince of Asgard swiftly reached out to grasp the edges of the trickster's green cloak. Gasps echoed round the hall as still holding the edges of Loki's cloak Thor went down on his knees before the god of mischief. The blonde immortal hung his head refusing to look at the raven haired immortal eventually he spoke to Loki in a low voice full of raw emotion. "Loki, I humbly apologise, I have been the worst kind of villain towards you. I have caused you great pain and knowing this hurts me deeply. I wish I could go back and undo what I have done to you but I cannot. All I can do is kneel here and beg you to forgive me for what I have done, I know I do not deserve it but I crave your forgiveness for my cruel acts with all of my heart."

Loki opened and closed his mouth a few times he was completely stunned by what Thor was saying and doing as well as how publically he had chosen to do it. Slowly recovering his wits the trickster looked down onto the golden prince of Asgard, completely repentant at his feet and felt his heart which the thunder god had hurt so badly begin to warm for the first time since that day. Everyone round the pair waited with baited breath to see what Loki would say or do in response to this heartfelt apology from Thor.

As the silence between them began to stretch, without thinking about it the god of mischief slowly moved one hand, until it came to rest on the top of the head of Thor. Despite feeling this happen the prince of Asgard did not move position as he had already decided that whatever Loki decided to do to him he was ready for his punishment. He was sure in his mind that whatever the punishment was it would be no more than he deserved for the pain he had caused the one he loved.

Loki found his voice from some were and finally addressed the prince his voice was just as full of emotion as Thor's had been. "Is this another one of your gambles Thor, because believe me if it is I will not be pleased and will not be as merciful as I was with you the last time."

"This is no wager, no joke I swear to you on my soul Loki, my apology to you is genuine and motivated by nothing more than my need to make amends to the one who I love and have hurt so terribly. Sigyn I know you are here, I would have you bear witness to the fact I tell Loki the truth as you of all those here would know if I spoke a lie to him."

The brown haired goddess stepped forward from the ranks of the immortals; she turned her dark eyed gaze onto the trickster and spoke to him in a gentle voice. "Loki, Thor tells you the truth there is no deceit to this apology, it comes from his heart."

When Sigyn finished speaking, the god of mischief began to move the hand he had placed onto Thor's head stroking his blonde hair absently for a few moments then slowly the trickster brought his hand down from the hair, under the thunder god's chin and tilted his face up. Two pairs of blue eyes met, both held in them deep hurt, and great pain, for the longest time Thor and Loki just remained like this neither moving nor speaking.

It was Sigyn who placed her hands to her hips and said in a deeply frustrated tone of voice. "Oh just kiss already."

The two gods laughed slightly at the brown haired goddess's words, once their laughter died, Loki leant down towards Thor, the princes' eyes widened slightly with realization, carefully he moved up slightly so that their lips met in a soft short kiss. As the pair drew apart from the kiss no one laughed, instead there was clapping, which caused both immortals to blush slightly. Once all quietened once more it was Thor who spoke first after their fleeting kiss. "Does that mean you have forgiven me? That you might still be able to love me after what I have done to you?"

"Yes I forgive you and I never stopped loving you. I have always loved you even when I have not shown this to be so it has been the case. You better get up from down there, it makes me think you are about to go all Midgarian on me and propose marriage to me."

Thor raised one eye brow at Loki, an unusual mischievous glint appearing in the thunder god's blue eyes. "Well I could do so, would you like me to?"

Loki couldn't help but roll his eyes to the heavens. "Thor please be serious, you do not want to marry me."

"Oh but I am very serious and I do Loki want to marry you, yes I most certainly do." The prince released the cloak of the one he loved, but then took his left hand instead and looked back up into the bright blue eyes of his beloved trickster. "Loki will you marry me?"

The god of mischief looked down into the eyes of his prince and could see nothing but honesty in them and so with a genuine smile on his face answered the question. "Yes I will marry you."

With a huge smile on his face Thor quickly rose from his knees, the blonde immortal let go of the hand he had been holding before grabbing hold of Loki quickly pulling the trickster to him and kissing the other god with great enthusiasm. It didn't take very long for the pale immortal to being to return this heated kiss, Loki lifted his own arms, his hands going up to the back of Thor's head were he tangled his fingers into the blond locks of the one he loved while at the same time pressing his body close to Thor's.

It would be many, many years after all of these events and their much celebrated wedding that Thor and Loki, with the aid of Sigyn, Sif and the warriors three would tell the story of the strange, drunken wager which brought them together as a very happily married couple to their wonderful and sometimes aggravating seven children with laughter and great joy.


End file.
